Reflections was a unit about self-reflection, and breaking down who you truly are. In Digital Media, we used adobe applications to create both intricate Mandalas and numerous works of photoshop painting art. In English we dove into key aspects of ourselves while writing our personal statements. Finally in Film, we created our two minute long video essays, yet again diving into ourselves to find a story or idea that represents ourselves.
Who Am I?
These projects were designed to help me find a more clear picture of myself, and they did so not only in the projects themselves, but even through the thought process that went into crafting the ideas. In essence, I earned how resourceful I am when brainstorming, and how I can tale past mistakes or problems and use the lessons I learned to create pieces of art.
My 10 Essence Objects:
- Bracelet
- My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Limited Vinyl
- Kayak Oar
- Ring
- Phone
- Lacrosse Stick
- Fork
- Pad Lock
- Eagle
- Film Camera
My essence object are a perfect representation of who I am as a person, and what I value. Heres a quick run down of each object and why its so important to me: The bracelet represents one of the first personalized gifts I ever received from a friend, and changed the way I saw my friends and gift giving. The vinyl album represents my love for music, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was the album that got me into music at a much deeper level than ever before. The kayak oar represents my love for adventure and thrill seeking. The ring represents how love is the value that I hold closest. The car represents the ability to stay connected to those closest to me, and always be a few seconds away. The lacrosse stick represents my love for lacrosse (go figure). The padlock represents how much loyalty means to me. An eagle represents my love of freedom, and knowing I have the ability to go anywhere, and do anything I want. The film camera is again, a clear representation of my love for film.
Mandala
Using Adobe Illustrator, we created two mandalas. My first, a black and white mandala, is named Spirals, due to the repeating circular patterns. My second is named Autumn, named after the vibrantly warm colors present throughout the mandala.
Black and White vs Color
Spirals Artist Statement:
The inspiration for “spirals” was simply that I wanted something that was incredibly intricate and full of the small details. Many of the shapes have little to no meaning, however the final product still came out incredible. One of my biggest struggles was that I notices I aligned the clipping mask wrong, resulting in a slightly asymmetrical line on one of the repeating edges. I was able to work around this by creating strokes that came close, but did not cross the misaligned edge. Along with this, I used large blunt shapes on this edge, causing the misalignment to be nearly completely unnoticeable. The only thing I would consider changing is the outer ring, as since seeing my peers work, the idea of layering a mandala with fewer segments behind mine could have looked amazing. I am most proud of the immensely intricate details present in the mandala, and how much I was able to put in that, although potentially minuscule in size, contribute to the overall feeling of the piece.
Autumn Artist Statement:
“Autumn” was a colored Mandala heavily inspired by the season of fall. The warm colors reflect the trees and leaves that tend to be associated with the season. In the center there is a sunflower. I chose to create a heavily designed sunflower because sunflowers are my girlfriend’s favorite flower, and I always think of fall when I see them. I wanted to keep the artistic look so I put many small shapes and designs in both the center and the petals of the flower. One of my struggles was figuring out what color scheme I wanted to run with and how I should accomplish it. I went through a few ideas until I landed on the autumn feeling of the mandala. If I was going to change anything, I would add more of a dark background, maybe have more black underneath the colored strokes. Going forward, I think I will star looking at art with the big picture in mind, then work to the small details. This would allow me to get a good feeling of the overall artwork, before making it all intricate and unique.
Photoshop Art
Along with the Mandalas, we worked on numerous photoshop art projects. We used photoshop features to simulate many different painting techniques, such as pastel and watercolor. Along with these, we learned how to composite images, or bring together multiple images to craft a single art piece. We ended up combining all of the skills we had learned into a surreal art pice, reflecting the narrative worlds we were writing in English.
Pastel Painting
Title: Where Fire meets Water
When I was looking for an image, I found this astonishing image of the sun setting on a Beach, and was immediately hooked. I wanted to capture the image through the digital pastel medium. Initially, I did not split layers and only used a single layer fr the whole painting. When blending this made distinct lines very difficult to maintain, so I had to adjust and use multiple layers. I am most proud of the blending with the sky and the horizon line. The glow radiating across the sky and the split between water and sky is distinct and creates strong contrast. I noticed after finishing it that the color of the water was a little off and could have been handled better.
Watercolor Painting
Title: Beyond Light
My inspiration for this project was the image I chose. It is a poster for a DLC for the game Destiny 2. Destiny 1 is my favorite game of all time, and although the second game was underwhelming, expansions like Forsaken and Beyond light (this one) had some amazing aspects. This made me think of the visuals, so I chose to paint over this incredible image. The main thing I would change is the artistic medium. An image like this would benefit from the pastel brushes more-so than the watercolor. I am most proud of the relative sense of depth this image has. The fore, middle, and background all blend in a way that give them each a distinct depth.
Watercolor Painting Effect
All together, these pieces create the compilation “The Stages of Life”. All three of the images were inspired by skylines and horizon lines. The image of Seattle was heavily inspired by fall colors, whereas the beach, although sharing a similar color scheme, was more so inspired by the feeling of a warm night at a beach in the summer. The inspiration behind the third image was simply that I find the image very visually appealing. My friend took it of me in 8th grade and it has a very epic and inspiring feeling, and captures the moment perfectly. I would potentially change my choice of image, as the third photo does not change too much with the filter, as it was already such high resolution. My biggest struggle was the revealing step, because I forgot to turn the main color to white instead of black, so I was a little lost until I figured that out.
Compositing
Surreal Art
Title: Earthfall
This image depicts Cameron, the protagonist of Earthfall, looking out towards the ocean and the sky from a cliff. My inspiration for the art style came from my sticker project from last year, and some personal album covers I have designed recently. I love the aesthetic of the silhouetted protagonist. It was challenging trying to recreate this style in photoshop as I tend to make art in Illustrator, so using the new skills and tools from the unit was difficult. If I were to change anything I would put more detail into the coastline, ocean, and even the land Cameron is standing on, as this would add detail while retaining the silhouette style I like.
Personal Statement
The personal statement was our English project for the unit, and worked as a written representation for what the Reflections unit was all about. It served as a medium to take a deep look into myself, and look at what made me, well, me. The essay mostly reflects a challenge I endured in high school, and how going through that and coming out the other side shaped me as the person I am today.
As a senior, looking back on myself as a rising freshman, all I see is a stranger. It’s not necessarily that I’ve changed all too much, more that I was forced to seek out and discover who I truly am.
When I went into middle school I decided to start fresh, so I broke away from the comfort of my childhood friend group, and started hanging out with a new group, Lance, Alex and I. By the beginning of freshman year however, I felt more like an outsider than I had ever felt before. The feeling persisted until I felt genuinely unwanted and unappreciated when I hung out with them. Despite all of this, I stayed. I was afraid that the aftermath of leaving would mean I was all alone. It was this fear of the unknown that kept me standing on the edge of the circle, hearing about plans I wasn’t invited to, and only being invited when my house was needed. After enough time, I retreated back to my childhood friend group, feeling embarrassed and rejected. Except now I wasn’t excluded. I wasn’t standing outside of the circle anymore.
It wasn’t until my Junior year that I was reconnected with Lance, who had abandoned me just a year earlier. I never thought I would let him back into my life. However, when I did, instead of feeling animosity towards him for the past, I realized that I had long since forgiven him. Lance had not done anything to right his wrongs, yet I was able to look forward, and beyond past injustices. I would not change anything that led me to where I am, so what’s the point in looking at the past, when all I can do is move forward?
Within this period of inner conflict, I was taught how to listen to music. I had always been a fan of music, but I never knew what made it good, I simply enjoyed listening to good sounds. It was only once I began listening to the meaning behind songs and albums that I realized how complex music can be. On the outside, it is fun and an easy distraction, but once you zoom in, only then are you able to uncover the subtle cues in the instrumental, the depth of the notes, and the powerful meaning behind the lyrics. Whether it be cold and dark, beachy, or luxurious, the atmosphere of the track always draws out the perfect emotion.
All the details that might seem excessive or useless to most, blew me away. The importance of these fine details in order to complete the big picture applied in many aspects of life, such as my drawings, school work, and even the music I created. Listening to and analyzing music helped me through this turbulent period, as I was able to take a step back, and recognize the situation I was in from the minute details to the big picture.
A year later during my Junior year, I was given my first shot at creating film, and was able to explore what could be if I chose to pursue it. The new skills and technology applied are what led me to create a cohesive and intricate body of work.
However, this new exposure was not the only reason for my newfound pursuit of film. I’ve always been creative, looking outside the box for ways to make the generic feel brand new. My tendency to look towards the future, rather than into the past, allows me to think in innovative and unique ways to create work that does not feel derivative. My eye for detail and love of art is what drives me to make complete pieces of art that have depth and passion built into them. Film became the outlet to express my ideas, as every trait that is important to me can be skillfully applied to a comprehensible medium.
Film
Video Essay
In film, our unit project was a video essay, a two minute film that tells a quick story about a part of your personality, in order to paint an image of yourself for the viewer.
Creating my video essay really made me sit down and think of a way I could represent my creative process in an interesting and unique way. Making this project allowed me to think deeply about the way I think and the way I formulate ideas, and I really appreciated getting the chance to express something so complex, and being forced to do so with a strict 2 minute runtime.